By Tim Stannard

Cristiano Ronaldo is set to miss almost a half of the 2016-2017 La Liga campaign for Real Madrid, after agreeing a deal with his club that will see the footballer spending three months as a high-paying ‘tourist’ on the International Space Station.

Although the absence of the footballer will be felt by the Santiago Bernabeu club, it is believed that Ronaldo has agreed to extend his current deal with Madrid beyond 2018, to end speculation that he was set to leave as early this summer. In return for Ronaldo’s signature, Real Madrid has had to release their star player to fulfill a life-long dream to experience space travel.  

Once Portugal’s participation in the 2016 European Championships is over, Ronaldo is expected to spend one month at an astronaut training camp in the South Russia city of Lliafproo, to acclimatize himself to the weightless conditions the footballer will experience for three months on board the ISS.

A launch date of August 29th, close to the start of the new La Liga campaign, has been penciled in with Ronaldo paying a price of what is estimated to be $500,000 for a seat on the Russian Soyuz vessel, a fee that will raise funds for the cash-starved Russian space industry. A reported fee of $100,000 per day will then be paid by Ronaldo to stay onboard the space station, which began operational life in 1998.

Although Ronaldo will be returning to earth in November, experts suggest that it could take up to a month for the footballer’s body to recover and become re-accustomed to earth’s gravity.